William
Mercer Taylor
Rev.
William Taylor, D.D., who, for forty-two years, was the devoted and
beloved pastor of the Westfield Presbyterian Church of North Beaver,
Township, was born in a log cabin near Enon Valley, Pa., March 4, 1834,
and passed out of life, crowned with deeds well done, at midnight of
December 30, 1902, when aged almost sixty-nine years. His parents were
Samuel and Charity (Mercer) Taylor, farming people, and representatives
of old and prominent families.
William Mercer Taylor
was reared on his father's farm and enjoyed the advantages which come to
children growing up in a family where the father is a man of ample means
and of social prominence. Samuel Taylor served Lawrence County two terms
as associate judge. The youth easily completed the district school
course and a course of study in Hiram Eclectic Institute, under James P.
Garfield's tutorship, afterwards President Garfield, and then taught a
few terms in country schools, after which he entered Jefferson College,
later Washington and Jefferson, where he was graduated in 1858.
Following this came his graduation from the Allegheny Theological
Seminary, in 1861. Direct from the seminary he went to the Westfield
Presbyterian Church at Mount Jackson, and, although urged time and again
to accept calls in important and growing towns, he remained with the
people of his first-choice, devoting his life to their well-being. On
June 12, 1861, Mr. Taylor was installed pastor of the Westfield Church,
which remained his only charge throughout the period of forty-two years
of ministerial life, receiving 500 into the church, 300 of whom united
on profession. During the Civil War he served as a member of the
Christian Commission, in the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the
Cumberland. In 1868 he received the honorary title of D. D. from his
alma mater. Before the consolidation of the synods of Pennsylvania, he
was elected moderator of the Synod of Erie, in 1878. He was the
recipient of many honors, but none of these turned his course from the
simple, faithful performance of duty as he saw it. In 1894-95 he made a
tour around the world, having spent six months profitably in the Holy
Land in 1878. He was a man of erudition and was engaged for many years
in literary work, and published many papers in the religious press,
including "Letters of Foreign Travel." He also published a
booklet, "Historical Sketch of Moravian Missions Among the Delaware
Indians," and a diary of Dr. Dilworth. As a pastor he will long be
remembered and the helpful influence he exerted can never be measured by
words. Washington-Jefferson College has been made the repository of the
large collection of valuable relics and curiosities collected in Dr.
Taylor's visits in his own country and abroad.
Dr. Taylor was married
(first) to Miss Lorinda Packer, of Hiram, May 21, 1861, who died in
1883. On September 24, 1885, he was married (second) to Miss Sophy
Loring, a daughter of Dr. William Loring, a prominent physician of
Springfield, Mass.
Twentieth
Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, 1908, pages 463-464